Fishing Line Spool Holder

ABSTRACT

A fishing line spool holder capable of holding multiple spools of the same or differing sizes, the spool holder having braking members to retard rotation of a spool when line is being unwound from the spool. The spool holder has removable rods such that differing groupings of spools with different sizes may be accommodated.

This is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/931,975, filed Feb. 15, 2011. This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/518,343, filed May 4, 2011.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the field of devices for holding a spool of fishing line as the line is unwound from the spool onto the reel of a fishing rod, and more particularly to such devices that are capable of holding multiple spools of differing sizes.

When fishing line on a fishing rod needs to be replaced, the old line is removed from the reel and new line is wound onto the reel. It is important in winding the new line onto the reel that it be wound under relatively constant tension so that it will not roll excessively or backlash, as a properly wound reel is necessary for the line to play out correctly when cast. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary to provide tension or friction to the line itself or to the line supplying spool as line is being removed. This is a difficult task for an individual to accomplish alone, and often two persons participate—one to wind the reel and the other to retard the line feeding in some manner.

In many circumstances a fisherman will want to utilize lines of different gauge, strength or composition depending on the fishing conditions or the fish being sought. This requires the fisherman to maintain on hand a plurality of fishing line spools, and the spools will vary in diameter and width anywhere from about 2 to 8 inches in diameter and 2 to 10 inches in width. This presents storage and transport problems.

It is an object of this invention to provide a holder for retaining a plurality of fishing line spools that addresses the problems set forth above. It is a further object to provide such a holder that is capable of holding a plurality of spools of the same or differing sizes, both in terms of diameter and width. It is a further object to provide such a holder that comprises braking members to retard the rotation of the fishing line spools to apply tension to the fishing line as it is unwound. It is a further object to provide such a holder that is adjustable such that the holder is capable of holding odd-sized spools of fishing line.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The fishing line spool holder comprises a housing or main body having a base, a pair of opposing side walls and cross braces as needed, the design of the housing and its cross braces presenting a generally unobstructed and open top or front side through which the line is unwound from a spool mounted within the housing. A plurality of removable rods extend between the side walls, the rods sized to fit within the bores of fishing line spools such that the spools will freely rotate about the rod axis when the line is pulled. In one embodiment a large spool rod is located in a relatively central location, the location providing at least about 4 inches of clearance in the radial direction, such that a spool having about an 8 inch diameter can be retained on the large spool rod. A small spool rod is located in a relatively forward and lower location, the location providing at least about 2 inches of clearance in the radial direction, such that a spool having about a 4 inch diameter can be retained thereon. A plurality of apertures to receive a midsize spool rod in variable locations are located in a relatively rearward and lower location, the location providing at least about 3 inches of clearance in the radial direction, such that a spool having about a 6 inch diameter can be retained thereon. Use of the midsize spool rod requires removal of the large spool rod. Braking members are provided in relation with each rod, such that when a spool or spools are mounted onto a rod, the braking members contact either the spool ends or the line wound on the body of the spool in order to retard rotation of the spool when the line is being unwound.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the invention, showing the holder with the interior portions of certain cross brace members cut away in order to expose other elements, and showing the housing in an empty status retaining no spools of fishing line.

FIG. 2 is a front view similar to FIG. 1, wherein the holder is retaining one large spool of fishing line and three small spools of fishing line. The upper cross brace members are not shown in this figure in order to expose other elements.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the embodiment of FIG. 1, showing the rod for the large spool in the operative position, the rod for the small spools in the operative position, and the rod for the mid-size spools in the storage position.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 6, showing the positions of the large spool and small spool in phantom, and illustrating the operation of the braking members on the spool ends of the large spool and the body of the small spool.

FIG. 5 is a partial side view of the housing showing a releasable retainer member in use with a rod.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 1, illustrating the positioning of the brake members. The uppermost cross brace member is shown with its interior portion cut away in order to expose other elements.

FIG. 7 is a front view similar to FIG. 1, wherein the holder is retaining a mid-size spool in one of the mid-size rod receiving apertures. The upper cross brace members and the brake members for the large and small spools are not shown in this figure in order to expose other elements.

FIG. 8 is a top view of a basic embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a top view of an alternative basic embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the alternative basic embodiment of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the drawings, the invention will now be described in detail with regard for the best mode and the preferred or preferred embodiments. In a general sense, the invention is a fishing line spool holder capable of holding multiple spools of the same or differing sizes, the spool holder having braking members to retard rotation of a spool when line is being unwound from the spool. The spool holder has removable rods to allow for placement of the spools and such that differing groupings of spools with different sizes may be accommodated.

One embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 1 through 7. The spool holder housing or main body 10 presents a generally rectangular footprint and comprises a base 11 and a pair of opposing side walls 12. In order to provide a more stable construction, the housing 10 is also preferably provided with cross braces 13 that extend between the side walls 12. In this embodiments there are four cross braces 13, two located at the front and rear of base 11, one at the rear of the housing 10 in a low position and the other toward the front of the housing 10 but at a higher position. The particular locations of the cross braces 13 are not critical to the invention, but their location cannot interfere with the play out of fishing line when any of the spools 40/50/60 are being unwound, nor interfere with the rotation of the spools 40/50/60. The side walls 12 may be generally rectilinear in perimeter, but in a preferred embodiment the upper edge of the side walls 12 are rounded to present a scalloped configuration generally conforming to the perimeter shape of the spool edges on spools 40/50.

The side walls 12 are provided with a plurality of rod receiving apertures 14/15/17 such that removable spool retaining rods 30 can be positioned between the side walls 12 to retain spools 40/50/60 of varying sizes. Spool retaining rods 30 may be of differing sizes, as shown in the drawings, with the rod 30 positioned for retaining the large spool 40 having a greater diameter than the rods 30 positioned for retaining the small spools 50 or midsize spools 60. Alternatively, the rods 30 may all be identically sized, as will be the corresponding rod receiving apertures 14/15/17. The rods 30 are maintained in place relative to the side walls 12 by releasable retainer members 31, typically mechanical fasteners, clips, end caps or the like. As shown in FIG. 5, the releasable retainer members 31 may comprise cotter pins inserted through transverse bores in rods 30. In this manner the rods 30 are removable so that spools 40/50/60 may be placed onto the rods 30, and so that rods 30 may be positioned where needed.

The paired large spool rod receiving apertures 14 are relatively centrally located, preferably slightly rearward of the midline. The height of the large spool rod receiving apertures 14 relative to the base 11 is at least four inches above the base 11 such that a large spool 40 having circular ends 41 with a diameter of about eight inches can be accommodated on the rod 30 disposed in the large spool rod receiving apertures 14. The paired small spool rod receiving apertures 15 are located toward the front of the housing 10 and are lower in height than the large spool rod receiving apertures 14. In this manner the small spools 50 will not interfere with line being unwound from the large spool 40 or midsize spool 60. The height of the small spool rod receiving apertures 15 relative to the base 11 is at least two inches above the base 11 such that a small spool 50 having circular ends 51 with a diameter of about four inches can be accommodated on the rod 30 disposed in the small spool rod receiving apertures 15. As shown in the drawings, three small spools 50 will usually be able to aligned axially end-to-end on rod 30. At least two and preferably three or more paired midsize spool receiving apertures 17 are provided in side walls 11. The midsize spool rod receiving apertures 17 are paired at differing heights to better accommodate midsize spools 60 of differing diameters, with the height of apertures 17 being at least two inches above base 11 and located so that the rod 30 inserted therein can support a midsize spool 60 of from about four to six inches in diameter. The midsize spool rod receiving apertures 17 are located rearward of large spool rod receiving apertures 14. With this relationship, it can be seen that housing 11 will accommodate either a large spool 40 or one or more midsize spools 60, but not both at once. To retain a midsize spool 60 in housing 10, the large spool and the large spool rod 30 is removed from large spool rod receiving apertures 14 if it will interfere with rotation of the midsize spool 60 and a rod 30 is inserted into the proper pair of midsize spool rod retaining apertures 17 and through the midsize spool 60, as shown in FIG. 7.

In a more preferred embodiment, paired rod storage apertures 16 are provided in side walls 11, the rod storage apertures 16 being located such that a rod 30 retained therein will not interfere with any of the spools 40/50/60. As shown, preferably the rod storage apertures 16 are positioned near the rear of housing 10. In this manner an additional rod 30 is retained within housing 10 for use when needed.

While it is essential that spools 40/50/60 be free spinning when retained within the housing 10 such that line 43/53/63 may be easily pulled from the bodies 42/52/62 of spools 40/50/60, it is critical that the invention comprise means for retarding the rotation of the spools 40/50/60 while the line 43/53/63 is being unwound, such that the problems of excessive rolling or line backlash during transfer of line 43/53/63 from spools 40/50/60 onto a fishing reel be precluded. To accomplish this, brake members 20 are provided in association with each rod 30, there being one or more brake members 20 dedicated to each of spools 40/50/60, and also to each of multiple small spools 50 retained within housing 10.

As shown in the drawings, brake members 20 in a preferred but not meant to be limiting embodiment are biased or tensioned members formed using strips of metal. Each brake member 20 comprises a main body 26, a contact flange 25 on the free end of main body 26, an attachment base 24 joined to the other end of main body 26, and a mechanical fastener 27 to affix the brake member 20 to base 11. The brake members 20 are inclined toward the front of housing 10. The material of composition of brake members 20 is such that the main body 26 is flexed or biased from a resident position to a biased or tensioned operational position, as shown in FIG. 4, when a spool 40/50/60 is in place in housing 10, thereby imparting a force against the rotation of spool 40/50/60. The amount of pressure is sufficient to retard free spinning, but is easily overcome by pulling the line 43/53/63.

The brake members 20 may operate in two manners. In a first manner, such as shown with large spool brake members 21, two large spool brake members 21 are used, with each large spool brake member 21 positioned near side walls 11 at a location corresponding to the location of the large spool ends 41. In this manner, with a large spool 40 in place, the contact flanges 25 of the large spool brake members 21 are in contact with and biased by large spool ends 41. this contact retards the rotation of large spool 40. In this arrangement, the large spool body 42 and line 43 are not contacted by brake members 21.

The second manner of retarding line removal is shown in relation to small spools 50 and midsize spool 60, wherein a single small spool brake member 22 is provided for each small spool 50 and a single midsize spool brake member 23 is provided for the midsize spool 60. Three small spool brake members 22 are provided in conjunction with three small spools 50 as shown in the drawings, each small spool brake member 22 being located at a position between the small spool ends 51 such that the contact flanges 25 of the small spool brake members 22 will be flexed by the line 53 on the small spool bodies 52. Likewise for midsize spool 60, the midsize spool brake member 23 is positioned between the spool ends 61 in order to contact the line 63 on midsize spool body 62.

Several basic embodiments of the invention are shown in FIGS. 8 through 11. The spool holder housing or main body 10 presents a generally rectangular footprint and comprises a base 11 and a pair of opposing side walls 12. In order to provide a more stable construction, the housing 10 is also preferably provided with cross braces 13 that extend between the side walls 12. The particular locations of the cross braces 13 are not critical to the invention, but their location cannot interfere with the play out of fishing line when any of the spools are being unwound, nor interfere with the rotation of the spools. The side walls 12 may be generally rectilinear in perimeter, but in a preferred embodiment the upper edge of the side walls 12 are rounded to generally conform to the perimeter shape of the spool edges on spools, thus presenting a scalloped configuration when viewed from the side.

The side walls 12 are provided with a plurality of paired rod receiving apertures 18 such that removable spool retaining rods 30 can be positioned between the side walls 12 to retain spools. The rods 30 are maintained in place relative to the side walls 12 by at least one releasable retainer member 31, typically mechanical fasteners, clips, end caps or the like. The rod receiving apertures 18 may be evenly spaced or set at varying intervals, and the height of the apertures 18 from the base 11 may be the same or vary.

To counter the problems of excessive rolling or line backlash during transfer of line from the spools onto a fishing reel, resilient brake members 20 are provided in association with each rod 30, there being one or more brake members 20 dedicated to each of the spools.

As shown in the drawings, brake members 20 in a preferred but not meant to be limiting embodiment comprise biased or tensioned members formed using thin strips of metal or strong plastic. Each brake member 20 comprises a main body 26, a contact flange 25 on the free end of main body 26 (i.e., the portion of the main body 26 structured to come in contact with the spool or line), an attachment base 24 joined to the other end of main body 26, and a mechanical fastener 27 to affix the brake member 20 to base 11. The main body 26 and contact flange 25 may each be planar with the contact flange 26 preferably positioned at an angle from the main body 26, or the main body 26 and contact flange together may be substantially planar, or the main body 26 and/or the contact flange 25 may be curved. The attachment base 24 may extend forward or rearward relative to the main body 26. The design and material of composition of brake members 20 is such that the main body 26 is flexed or biased from a neutral resident position to a biased, flexed or tensioned operational position when a spool is in put in place in housing 10, thereby imparting a force against the spool to retard rotation. The amount of pressure is sufficient to retard free spinning, but is easily overcome by pulling the line.

To position a spool onto a rod 30, one of the rod retainer members 31 is removed such that the rod 30 can be slid back and removed from the side walls 12. The spool is then placed between the side walls 12, the corresponding brake member 20 is compressed or flexed to place it in tension, the rod 30 is inserted through the open core of the spool and the rod receiving aperture 18, and the retainer member 31 is reconnected.

The brake members 20 may retard the line by contacting the edges of the spools, in which case a preferred embodiment comprises pairs of brake members 20 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 to provide a balanced pressure. Alternatively, the brake members 20 may retard line removal by contacting the line remaining on the spools, in which case the brake members 20 are more centrally located, as shown in FIG. 10, and a single brake member 20 may be associated with each rod 30.

Exemplary dimensions of a representative basic fishing line spool holder capable of holding three spools, the dimensions not meant to be limiting, may consist of a base 11 three by 10.5 inches, side walls 12 twelve by 3.75 inches, cross braces 13 three by 3.75 inches and rods 30 five inches in length and 0.25 inches in diameter. Utilizing a base 11, side walls 12 and cross braces 0.5 inches thick, the footprint of the fishing line spool holder of this example will measure eleven inches with the side walls 12 extending 0.25 inches beyond the cross braces 13 on each end. The rod receiving apertures 18 may be evenly or unevenly spaced, such that with this example three rod receiving apertures 18 may be positioned on each side wall 12 at an interior height of 1.75 inches and with one outer aperture 18 positioned 3.5 inches from the middle aperture 12 and the other outer aperture 18 positioned three inches from the middle aperture 18, as shown in FIG. 10. In FIG. 11, additional apertures 18 are provided, such that the number of paired apertures 18 exceeds the number of rods 30, and thus the rods 30 may be aligned evenly or in descending order with regard to height.

It is understood that equivalents and substitutions for certain elements described and illustrated above may be obvious to those of skill in the art, and as such the descriptions and illustrations are not meant to be limiting and the true scope and definition of the invention is to be as set forth in the following claims. 

1. A fishing line spool holding device comprising: a housing comprising a base and a pair of side walls; a plurality of paired rod receiving apertures disposed in said side walls; a plurality of spools; a plurality of removable retaining rods each adapted to retain at least one of said spools, said rods extending between said side walls and received by said paired rod receiving apertures; and brake members associated with each said retaining rod, said brake members positioned and adapted to contact said spools to retard rotation of said spools.
 2. The device of claim 1, said spools comprising a body with a pair of ends and fishing line wound onto said body, wherein said brake members associated with each said retaining rod comprise a pair of brake members positioned so as to contact said ends of said spool.
 3. The device of claim 1, said spools comprising a body with a pair of ends and fishing line wound onto said body, wherein said brake members associated with each said retaining rod comprise a brake member positioned so as to contact said fishing line on said body of said small spool.
 4. The device of claim 1, each of said brake members comprising a main body, a contact flange connected to said main body and an attachment flange connected to said main body.
 5. The device of claim 4, wherein said main bodies of said brake members are thin metal strips.
 6. The device of claim 1, wherein said paired rod receiving apertures are equally spaced.
 7. The device of claim 1, wherein said paired rod receiving apertures are not evenly spaced.
 8. The device of claim 1, wherein said paired rod receiving apertures are positioned at the same height.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein said paired rod receiving apertures are positioned at different heights.
 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the number of said paired receiving apertures is greater than the number of said rods.
 11. The device of claim 1, wherein said brake members are biased members. 